The Great American Bash (2005)
The Great American Bash (2005) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the second annual Great American Bash event. It took place on July 24, 2005, at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. The event featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the SmackDown! program. The main event was Batista defending the World Heavyweight Championship against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). JBL won the match after Batista was disqualified, but did not win the title because a championship can only be won via pinfall or submission. One of the featured matches on the undercard was Rey Mysterio versus Eddie Guerrero, which Mysterio won by pinfall. The other was Orlando Jordan versus Chris Benoit for the WWE United States Championship, which Jordan won, also by pinfall. The event grossed over US$375,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 8,000, and received about 233,000 pay-per-view buys, the same amount as the following year's event. This enabled WWE's pay-per-view revenue to increase by $4.7 million from the previous year. When the 2005 event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of second on Billboard''s DVD Sales Chart. The event was also available free of charge for Armed Forces members and their families. Storylines The Great American Bash event featured a card, which contained matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. The name of a wrestler's character was not always the person's birth name, as wrestlers often use a stage name to portray their character. The main event at The Great American Bash was a standard wrestling match for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Batista defended the championship against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). The buildup to the match began when WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to the Raw brand, taking the title with him and leaving SmackDown! without a top-tier championship for the heavyweight division. General Manager Theodore Long, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, announced a match between six wrestlers for a new top-tier SmackDown! championship. On the June 30 episode of the ''SmackDown! television program, the match took place between JBL, Chris Benoit, Christian, Booker T, Muhammad Hassan, and The Undertaker. JBL was victorious in the match, but Long announced that he was still not the champion. Instead he had won the right to a match against the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, who was SmackDown!'s final 2005 draft pick, making the World Heavyweight Championship exclusive to SmackDown!. On the July 14 episode of SmackDown!, Batista defeated Orlando Jordan in a standard match after performing a Batista Bomb. After the match, JBL successfully attacked Batista by executing a clothesline. The following week on SmackDown!, JBL, who was accompanied by Jordan, threw himself a celebration party with the belief that he had already won the World Heavyweight Championship. Batista appeared, and as JBL fled the scene, performed a spinebuster on Jordan. The event also featured a feud between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. At the No Way Out event, Guerrero and Mysterio won the WWE Tag Team Championships from the Basham Brothers. After Guerrero and Mysterio lost the championships, Guerrero then began to portray a villainous character, turning on Mysterio in the process. At WrestleMania, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a standard match. On the April 21 episode of SmackDown!, MNM (Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury) defeated Mysterio and Guerrero to win the tag team championship. On the April 28 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero and Mysterio faced MNM in a rematch for the title, but MNM retained them after pinning Mysterio for the win. At the Judgment Day event, Mysterio defeated Guerrero by disqualification, and on the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, the rivalry between Guerrero and Mysterio continued when Guerrero threatened to reveal a secret concerning Mysterio's son Dominick. Both the Mysterio and Guerrero families continued to beg Guerrero to not reveal the secret. A match was made between Mysterio and Guerrero for The Great American Bash, where if Mysterio won, Guerrero could not reveal the secret, but if Guerrero won, he would be able to reveal the secret on live television. The third predominant feud prior to the event was between Chris Benoit and Orlando Jordan for the WWE United States Championship. On the July 7 edition of SmackDown!, Benoit defeated Booker T in a match to become the #1 contender for the title. Long granted Benoit a match against Jordan for The Great American Bash. Aftermath The feud between Batista and JBL continued after the Bash. On the July 28 episode of SmackDown!, JBL defeated The Undertaker after interference from Randy Orton to become the number-one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. The following week on SmackDown!, Batista and JBL held a scripted official contract signing, where it was announced that their match at SummerSlam would be a No Holds Barred match that allowed for no disqualification. At SummerSlam, Batista defeated JBL to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. The feud between the two ended when Batista defeated JBL in a Texas Bullrope match on the September 9 edition of SmackDown!, a match where the objective is to touch all four ring corners while tied to one's opponent with a bullrope. On the edition of SmackDown! following The Great American Bash, Eddie Guerrero revealed the secret he had been keeping; he was Dominick's real father, not Rey Mysterio (was thought to be). At SummerSlam, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a ladder match, where the goal is to climb a ladder to retrieve an object that is suspended in the air. As per pre-match stipulations, Mysterio gained complete custody of Dominick. On the September 9 edition of SmackDown!, Guerrero defeated Mysterio in a steel cage match to end the feud. Guerrero then began a feud with Batista when Guerrero was given a title match at No Mercy. Guerrero, however, died unexpectedly of heart failure on November 13, 2005. In 2006 Guerrero was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Mysterio, his nephew Chavo Guerrero, and Chris Benoit. The feud between Chris Benoit and Orlando Jordan continued. At SummerSlam, Benoit defeated Jordan for the WWE United States Championship in a match that lasted 25.5 seconds. On the September 1 edition of SmackDown!, Benoit once again defeated Jordan for the title, but this time the match lasted 23.4 seconds. The following week on SmackDown!, Benoit defeated Jordan in another title match, where the match lasted 22.5 seconds. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * The Great American Bash Category:The Great American Bash Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2005 Pay-Per-View Events